2021 is almost on our doorstep, so that means that it is time to start thinking about goals for the next year! My perfectionistic self always enjoys the new year because it feels like a fresh start, with new chances and new goals. Especially after this year, I think we all need a fresh start. The pandemic made me realise how much my life depended on others and how much of my life happens outside my house. I can still remember the feeling I had when in a weekend's time, my entire life seemed to stop. My studies were suddenly held online, my work was closed and so were the gyms where I worked out 4 times a week. As well as the restaurants and cafés where I met up with friends. When I think back to how busy my life was at the start of this year I almost can't believe that that was real. I'm sure that many people in this world feel or have felt this way. This is probably also why many people have high hopes for 2021, me being one of them. Of course, I still try to be a bit careful with my hopes for the upcoming year, because Covid will not suddenly be gone. But I hope that we will get our freedom back and that we will be able to pick up our lives again.

Now, not to say that I didn't do anything this year. Because that is definitely not true. One of the big things that happened this year for me was that I moved out of my parents' house. This was a goal I set for myself this year and I am happy that I was still able to achieve this. Because I had a lot more time in May (because of Covid), I was able to take the time to fix the studio that I could rent. Everything went very fast in that time, within a few days I suddenly had a studio on my name, and less than a month later I was fully living on my own. I am grateful that I got this opportunity this year and because of Covid, I was able to invest some work and time into the space before I moved in.

This year I also started this blog and my Bookstagram, building on my growing passion for books. I've already met some wonderful people on that platform and I am loving to write for you guys! Even though my last blog didn't work out, it did make me think on starting one with a focus on books and I've been writing ever since. For the last 5 months, I've posted at least 2 blog posts a week and I am very proud of that. This month I did feel less motivation, but I think that had to do that I just really needed a break. I'm also still doing my studies and it is sometimes hard to make it all work. But I am ready for the new year and I hope that I can invest more time into my blog and Bookstagram. I love sharing my passion for books with others!

Well, let's get to the goals for next year then. First off, I set the goal for myself to read 100 books in the next year. This year I read 62 books but I did have some months where I didn't read much (because of the move and my studies). Since starting my blog I increased the number of books I read per month and I want to continue this pace. I will need to read a lot to reach this goal, but there are many books on my list so I do have hope! Let me know what your reading goal is for next year in the comments done below! You can also follow me on Goodreads to see which books I read or am reading!

As you might've noticed, I read a lot of fantasy. Almost all the books I read for myself are fantasy because I enjoy that genre the most. However, in the next year, I want to expand the genres I read in. Genres I'm interested in reading are non-fiction, historical fiction, romance and poetry. Even though a lot of fantasy books will be published next year, I also want to read from different genres as I feel like I can learn a lot from those genres too.

Like the last few months, I want to continue with writing at least 5 book reviews per month (including Monthly Classics). I will be needing to read more than 5 books each month to reach my goal of 100 books, but of those, I want to write about at least 5 each month. I find book reviews the month fun but also challenging to write. I really need to gather my thoughts but also form an opinion of the books I read. In the 5 months of blogging, I have already seen improvement in my book reviews, but I want to get even better! By setting this goal for myself, I hope to achieve this improvement in my reviews.

For both my blog and Bookstagram, I also set some goals in numbers that I want to reach. I will keep these for myself. But I hope to achieve these numbers by improving the quality of my content and posting more regularly on my Bookstagram account. This month has shown me that posting every day is not for me, but by posting more regularly I did see more engagement in my posts and blog. My Pinterest is also slowly hitting off and I want to invest more time into that too. A massive thank you to all the people that find my blog via my Pinterest! I want to make clear that it is not about the numbers for me. I do this because I truly enjoy reading and talking about the books I read. However, growing my accounts does mean that more people will find my blog and hopefully engage with my content. After my studies, my goal is to eventually be able to make a living off my writing, and this blog and my social media is a start for that goal. It would be a dream come true if I was able to start focussing on fiction writing after my studies, so I want to set a basis for that in the next 2 years.

I think I will keep it at this for this post. Thank you all so much for reading my blog these past months. I will be back next year with a lot of good books to talk about! I hope that everyone has a save new year's eve. I will see you all next year. Thank you.

With love,

Julia